Setting William Blake's language concepts and practices within the broad context of linguistic history, this book offers a new perspective on his poetry. Essick first looks in detail at four of Blake's paintings and addresses some basic questions in semiotic theory based on the history of the "motivated sign" idea from Plato to Wilhelm von Humboldt. Converting this background into a hermeneutic, he then demonstrates Blake's contributions to the mystical tradition and his critique of 18th-century linguistic doctrines, presenting a parodic deconstruction of rationalist sign theory in The Book of Urizen. Finally, Essick looks at Blake's compositional practices, his development of these into a transactional view of language, and the apocalyptic reordering of the relationship between meaning and being in Jerusalem.

William Blake and the Language of Adam

Essick, Robert N.

Literature & Fiction

Oxford University Press

The description for this book, William Blake, Printmaker, will be forthcoming.

William Blake, Printmaker

Arts & Photography

Princeton University Press

The description for this book, The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue, will be forthcoming.

The Separate Plates of William Blake: A Catalogue

This book celebrates the art as well as the poetry of the great English poet William Blake. The Huntington Library has the most extensive collection of Blake's artwork in the world.

William Blake at the Huntington: An Introduction to the William Blake Collection in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Cal

Individual Artists

Abrams

This complete catalogue of William Blake's work from the richly comprehensive collections of the Huntington Library and Art Gallery features a full introduction and explanatory text by a leading Blake scholar and covers the artist's entire oeuvre: his pencil sketches, watercolor drawings, tempera paintings, engravings, etchings, relief color printing, illustrated and illuminated books, and printed writings.

The Works of William Blake in the Huntington Collections (Huntington Library Publications)

History & Criticism

Huntington Library Press

William Blake and His Contemporaries and Followers: Selected Works from the Collection of Robert N. Essick : An Exhibition Catalogue

Huntington Library Pr

Bibliography &amp; catalog of William Blake's commercial book illustrations. Includes dozens of plates.

William Blake: Book Illustrator

Reference

Easson, Roger R.

Catalogs & Directories

The American Blake Foundation

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Books by Essick, Robert N.